As the process industries face increasing challengesTerry Ingham makes the case for competencies in the workplace.
Businesses change fastthey have to just to survive in today’s cut throat business environment and process businesses are no different. In factit could be said that process industries face more challenges than most as the demands of competition from places like ChinaMalaysia and India increases. On top of this is a wealth of regulation from InternationalEuropean and UK based agencies for all sorts of reasonssometimes voluntary and sometimes mandatory. What has all this got to do with competencies? It does not matter if it is ISO9001ISO14001IEC 61508/61511ATEX and DSEARCCAL and IPPCGxPRBIHuman Factors or Investors in Peopleall these demands have one common theme – competence.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in its article Competency and Competency Frameworks – August 2005 defines competence in two ways and makes the distinction between competencies and competences. The first (competency) they define as: ‘The behaviours that employees must haveor must acquireto input into a situation in order to achieve high levels of performance’ while the second (competence) they define as: ‘A system of minimum standards demonstrated by performance and outputs’.
At ABB we see competency and competence as inseparable and interchangeable elements so we define competencies as: ‘A measurable set of tasks or behaviours that an individual or team is expected to perform to achieve a predetermined level of outcome which is demonstrableobservable and repeatable’.
Providing a standard
Competencies help organisations as well as the individuals within an organisation. They do this by providing a standard or framework by which the organisation or individual can know that the job or task they are undertaking is being done correctly and that the correct behaviours associated with undertaking that job or task are being used.
Competencies are usually implemented via a ‘competency framework’. There are many frameworks around and it is a relatively easy exercise to buy an off-the-shelf framework. Having said thatmany companies prefer to develop their own frameworks believing a customised purpose built framework will serve them better and in many cases they are right. If companies are looking to develop their own frameworks then a good place to start is the National Vocational Qualification (NVQs) Standards as these provide a wealth of information on competencies and competency frameworks.
Competency frameworks
Competency frameworks look to identify all the key tasks and/or duties that need to be carried out in any given role within an organisation. These tasks or duties are then typically arranged in clusters of similar tasks or duties and we call these competency groupings and usually have no more than 10 to 12 competencies in any one group. What we are looking to ensure in these groupings is that these competencies meet the criteria set out at the beginning of this paper ie is a measurable set of tasks and/or behaviours. Good competency statements are clear definitions of what is expectedhave clear elements to give them structureand describe what types of evidence will be acceptable in helping to assess that competence. Good competency statements are specific in their language so they avoid confusion and misunderstanding. Typical elements included in a good competency statement are things like:- communicationsmanaging peoplemanaging resources (including money)problem solving
team-workingcustomer care and planning skills.
So what are the benefits of having a competency structure of some kind? Welldemonstrable proof you do what you intend to do and do it to the required standards for a start. Elimination of confusion and misunderstanding in the job or task in terms of what is expected and how those expectations will be measured is another. Increased motivationgiving focus and purpose to the appraisal processensuring recruitment processes are fair and objectiveproviding a structured process whereby line management can be constructively involved in assessing operational standards and last but not leastcan be linked to National Vocational Qualifications.
It does not matter which sector of the process industries you come fromone thing seems certainwe are going to have to be able to demonstrate we manage and maintain our competency bases competently.
Terry Ingham is a Senior Consultant with ABB Engineering Services – Organisation and Systems Development groupDerbyUK. www.abb.com
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